Customer-controlled recording

ABSTRACT

A recording system has an interface enabled to monitor interaction between an agent of an enterprise and a second person, recording apparatus enabled to record the interaction and to store the recording in a data repository, and software stored in and executing from a machine-readable medium, the software providing functions for controlling the recording apparatus. The software responds to inputs from the second person to control the recording apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS NA BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of telephony communications andpertains more particularly to contact center operations.

2. Discussion of the State of the Art

In the field of telephony communications, including Internet ProtocolNetwork Telephony (IPNT), and Data Network Telephony (DNT), it is knownfor a contact center telephony system to record voice calls to monitorquality of service afforded to customers of the call center.

A customer calling the call center, in most situations, will receive anautomated prompt that says something like “This call may be recorded forquality management purposes”. In the call center it is probable that notall calls are in fact recorded for quality management purposes. Somecalls may be selected randomly for recording, and some calls are notrecorded at all. All voice calls may be recorded in somestate-of-the-art contact centers for historical purposes. Such callrecordings may be stored or archived for later retrieval by authorizedcall center personnel using a search tool.

It has occurred to the inventor that a customer engaged in ongoingdialog with a contact center may desire, and have need for access towhat was said in voice conversation between the customer and an agent ofthe center. One benefit of such a capability might be that the customerfeels assured that he or she has been heard correctly and that there isno verbal confusion relative to any transaction that may have occurred.However, current means for recording and archiving voice conversationsbetween a contact center and customers do not include any functionalityfor customer control, either access to or recording of voiceinteraction.

Therefore, what is clearly needed is a system and methods for enablingcustomer control of recorded voice conversations between the customerand a contact center and at least some customer control overpost-recording management tasks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem stated above is that it would be desirable to enablecustomers to control how their calls or other interactions into acommunication center are recorded however, current means for recordingand archiving interactions between a contact center and customers do notinclude any functionality for customer control of the recording process.

The inventors therefore considered functional elements of a contactcenter environment looking for elements that exhibit seamlessintegration potential that could potentially be harnessed to providecustomer control over the recording process, but in a manner that wouldnot create impedance to the servicing process.

Every contact center is driven by incoming customer requests forinteraction and the capability of agents working within the center tohandle those interactions successfully. Most contact centers employvarious customer access points including telephone, Web interaction,messaging, and computer telephony access. Call switches, routers,servers, interactive voice response systems, message routing systems andthe like are typically a part of such contact center apparatus.

The present inventor realized in an inventive moment that if, at thepoint of an interaction, a customer could be empowered to controlrecording of the interaction, significant customer satisfaction mightresult. The inventor therefore constructed a recording andpost-recording management system that allows customers of the center topre-configure recording and post-recording management options and tocontrol the recording process at the time of the interaction, in somecases overriding pre-configured settings. A significant increase incustomer loyalty and trust results with no significant impediment oncall flow through the contact center.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention a recordingsystem is provided, comprising an interface enabled to monitorinteraction between an agent of an enterprise and a second person,recording apparatus enabled to record the interaction and to store therecording in a data repository, and software stored in and executingfrom a machine-readable medium, the software providing functions forcontrolling the recording apparatus. The software responds to inputsfrom the second person to control the recording apparatus.

In one embodiment the second person has access to command input to causethe recording system to record all or a portion of the interaction undera circumstance that the interaction is not being recorded at the time ofthe record command input. In another embodiment the recorded interactionis marked as to the date and time of the interaction. In still another,the recorded interaction is further marked as to one or both of theparticipants in the interaction.

In one embodiment the second person has access to command input to causethe recording system to identify all or a portion of the interactionunder the circumstance that the interaction is being recorded at thetime of the command input. In one embodiment the identified portion ofthe recorded interaction is marked as to the date and time of theinteraction. In some cases the identified portion of the recordedinteraction is further marked as to one or both of the participants inthe interaction.

In some embodiments the identified portion of the recorded interactionis copied and saved as a separate file, marked as to the date and timeof the interaction. The separate file may be marked as to one or bothparticipants in the interaction. The second person may have access tocommand input to retrieve and play the recorded interaction. Further,the second person may have access to command input to retrieve a copy ofthe recorded interaction, and may have access to command input toretrieve the identity, date and time of the portion of the recordingidentified.

In another aspect of the invention a method for recording control isprovided, comprising the steps of (a) monitoring interaction between anagent of an enterprise and a second person engaged in the interaction;and (b) providing, to the second person engaged in the interaction,access to recording control functions.

In one embodiment, in step (b), the second person exercises commandinput to cause a recording system to record all or a portion of theinteraction under a circumstance that the interaction is not beingrecorded at the time of the command input. There may be a step formarking the recorded interaction as to the date and time, and as to oneor both of the participants in the interaction. Also in one embodimentthe second person exercises command input to cause the recording systemto identify all or a portion of the interaction under the circumstancethat the interaction is being recorded at the time of the command input.There may also be a step for marking the identified portion of therecorded interaction as to the date and time of the interaction.

In one embodiment there may be a step for further marking the identifiedportion of the recorded interaction as to one or both of theparticipants in the interaction. There may also be a step for copyingand saving the identified portion of the recorded interaction as aseparate file, marked as to the date and time of the interaction.Further, there may be a step for marking the separate file as to one orboth participants in the interaction, and a step for the second person,through command input, to retrieve and play the file. There mayadditionally be steps for the second person to retrieve a copy of thefile, or for the second person to retrieve the identity, date and timeof the portion of the recording identified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an architectural overview of a contact center practicingcustomer-controlled call recording according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a logical overview of system architecture for recording callsand publishing recordings according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 300 for practicing anIVR-based customer-controlled call recording process.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary screen view of a customer configuration templatefor configuring recording options.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for practicing aWeb-based customer-controlled call recording process.

FIG. 6 is a process flow chart illustrating steps for publishingrecorded calls according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors provide a system and methods for enabling customers of acall center, or any party on a call with an agent of an enterprise, tocontrol various aspects of call monitoring and recording of their calls.The system also enables customers to have access to recordings, or atleast to information about the recordings, such as date and time, basedon the preferences of the accessing customer. The present invention isdescribed in enabling detail in examples presented below which mayrepresent more than one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an architectural overview of a contact center practicingcustomer-controlled call recording according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, as an example of the invention. A communicationsnetwork 100 is illustrated in this example and represents a contactcenter and connected communication networks. A contact center isrepresented logically herein by a local area network (LAN) and supportedworkstations and various servers and routing equipment. LAN 103 hasaccess to the Internet network represented in this example by anInternet backbone 101. Internet backbone 101 represents all of thelines, equipment, and access points that make up the Internet network asa whole including any connected sub-networks. Therefore, there are nogeographic limitations to practicing the present invention.

LAN 103 is connected to Internet 101 via an Internet router (IR) 112connected to LAN 103, which in turn is connected via an Internet accessline to an Internet router 111 connected to backbone 101. IRs 112 and111 are logically illustrated and may include other nodes within thepath between LAN 103 and backbone 101 such as one or more connectionservers or access nodes provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP)for example. In a preferred embodiment LAN 103 is connected to Internet101 on a continuous basis using high-speed Internet access technology.

A public switched telephone network (PSTN) 102 is illustrated in thisexample and represents a publicly accessible telephony network. PSTN 102may include sub-networks such as wireless carrier networks withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Internet101 may be assumed to include wireless sub-networks as well such aswireless fidelity (WiFi) access networks. The inventor intends thatrepresentation of LAN 103, Internet 101, and PSTN 102 be viewed asexemplary only of a combination of existing networks that may enablepractice of the present invention. PSTN 102 and Internet 101 arepreferred in this example because of public accessibility howeverprivate networks may also be included as qualified sub-networks overwhich the present invention may be practiced.

LAN 103 is within the domain of a contact center and supports variousnodes associated with a contact center. LAN 103 supports a number ofagent workstations 109 a through 109 z. Individual agent stationsillustrated include a LAN-connected computer and a telephone representedby an icon. Each agent computer has a graphic user interface (GUI)adapted for facilitation of call center business and communication.Agent telephones are connected by internal telephone wiring to a centraloffice switch (CS) 106 within the domain of the contact center.

Agent computers in workstations 109 a through 109 z may be desktop orlaptop computing devices. Other computing devices may also be present inan agent's workstation like a personal digital assistant (PDA) or acellular device capable of LAN and Internet access. Agent telephones maybe connection-oriented-switched-telephones (COST), private branchexchange (PBX) telephones, or telephony applications hosted onassociated LAN connected computers within each workstation. CS 106 maybe a PBX switch or an automated call distributor (ACD) or a “soft”telephony switch implemented in software without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

CS 106 is computer telephony integrated (CTI) via a CTI processor 107connected thereto by a CTI link. CTI processor 107 supports aninteractive voice response (IVR) system that serves as first contactpoint for incoming calls at switch 106. Intelligent agent level routingis provided through CTI interface 107 controlling CS 106. CTI processor106 is connected to LAN 103. CS 106 is connected to a local telephoneswitch (LS) 104 within PSTN 102 via telephony trunk 105. One skilled inthe art of network integration will confirm that calls destined for thecontact center (CS 106) may be sourced from landline telephone, cellulartelephone, or computer telephony application or dedicated InternetProtocol (IP) telephone practicing voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).One or more gateways providing seamless integration between the networksmay be assumed present in this example although none are specificallyillustrated for bridging communication between PSTN 102 and Internet101.

A call monitor and recorder 108 are provided in this example and may beimplemented as a dedicated node connected to CTI processor 108 and toLAN 103. In one embodiment call monitoring and recording is implementedas a software application running on CTI processor 107. The inventorillustrates call monitor/recorder 108 separately from CTI processor 107in order to logically isolate the functionality for discussion purposes.Monitor/Recorder 108 is adapted to monitor voice interactions inprogress between agents and calling or called parties and to digitallyrecord the voice interactions according to aspects of the presentinvention, which may enable specific customer controls over the process.

LAN 103 in this example supports a recording management server (RMS) 120running an instance of RMS software (SW) 119. RMS 120 has a digitalmedium accessible thereto and a processor for storing and executingsoftware applications adapted to manage recordings of voice interactionsmade by monitor/recorder 108. A mass data repository 121 is provided andis connected to RMS 121. Repository 121 is adapted to store recordingsof calls and other historical records associated with the process. Inone embodiment all interactions, or a preprogrammed portion ofinteractions connected to an agent through CS 106 may be monitored andrecorded. In this embodiment customers may have control over whichrecordings or portions thereof are to be identified and possibly madeaccessible to the customer. “Access to the customer” may mean that thecustomer may retrieve data for locating the portion of a recording, mayretrieve a copy of the recording, may be able to play the recordingthrough contact center equipment, and many other variations. In acircumstance where interactions are being recorded whether or not thecustomer requests recording, a bookmarking system may be made availableto mark the boundaries of a portion of the recording the customerdesires access to, or may want to refer to, at some later date. In oneembodiment a third-party company may provide the recording services butmay not provide direct access to recordings. In another embodiment allcalls connected to an agent through CS 106 may be monitored but notnecessarily recorded, unless specified through customer instructionbased on template pre-configuration or on realtime input made by thecustomer during the progress of the call. In some embodiments customersmay use a web interface hosted by the enterprise to access recordings,portions of recordings, or even to download copies of recordings. Thereare many variations possible.

To be clear, the customer-provided functions of starting and stoppingrecording, may actually start and stop recording, may providebookmarking to recording already in progress, or may start and stop acompletely separate and parallel recording to be stored in the same oranother repository.

In the present example a customer station 110 a and a customer station110 b are illustrated. Customer stations 110 a and 110 b may be homedomains, mobile access points, or other stations through which acustomer may make use of the present invention. Like agent workstations109 a through 109 z, customer stations 110 a and 110 b typically includea computerized appliance capable of accessing the network, and may alsocomprise a telephone device.

Customer station 110 a in this example has a computer enabled by anetwork browser (BR) that has access to Internet 101 via an Internetaccess line 114 and an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 113. Customerstation 110 b includes a computer enabled by a network browser (BR) thathas access to Internet 101 via an Internet access line 115 and ISP 113.Computers 110 a and 110 b may be desktop or laptop computers, PDAs,smart phones or like Internet-capable computing devices having agraphics display and browser functionality.

Telephones within each customer station may be COST telephones connectedto PSTN 102 via telephone trunk 116 to LS 104. Internet 101 furtherincludes a messaging server (MSG/SVR) 124, which may be any type ofmessaging server supporting any of the existing message protocols likepost office protocol (POP), simple message transfer protocol (SMTP),multipurpose Internet mail extensions (MIME), instant message accessprotocol (IMAP), short message service (SMS), multimedia message service(MMS), and others. MSG/SVR 124 logically represents any text and/ormultimedia messaging server. LAN 103 supports a message (MSG) routingsystem (SYS) 123 for routing incoming messages to available agentsoperating workstations 109 a through 109 z.

Internet backbone 101 supports a Web server (WS) 117 having a digitalmedium accessible for storing and serving electronic information pages(Web pages) upon request. WS 117 may, in one embodiment, host a Web sitecreated by the contact center for the purpose of enabling customers ofthe center access to recordings of their transactions, or informationabout such recordings, including telephone conversations or portionsthereof that were recorded at the center. WS 117 hosts a configurationuser interface (CFG UI) 118 provided thereto and executable thereon thatis adapted to enable customers of the contact center to register andconfigure telephony monitoring and recording preferences and recordingaccess parameters to recordings of the customers' conversations withagents of the center. In one embodiment of the invention any customer ofthe contact center may pre-register with the center as a customer and,using CFG UI 118, may set call monitoring and recording preferences aswell as access preferences to recordings created from voice calls. Inone embodiment the web service might be enabled to support access bymobile devices, including for example, playback of recordings or displayof information about such recordings.

In one embodiment customers are enabled through IVR (107) and a voiceapplication (not illustrated) to set call monitoring and recordingpreferences as well as access preferences to recordings and informationabout recordings created and stored for access by the system. IVRinstruction (INS) 122 is illustrated in this example at the telephone ofcustomer station 110 b. In this case a UT enabling pre-configuration ofcall monitoring, recording and access preferences may not be required topractice the invention. In another embodiment CFG UI 118 is provided andno IVR-based pre-configuration is available. In yet another embodimentboth Web-based and IVR-based options are available to customers of thecontact center.

In one embodiment of the invention a customer, such as one operatingfrom customer station 110 b, places a call to a telephone numberprovided by the contact center, which may be what is known as atoll-free number (although some are not free). The call is then routedthrough LS 104 in PSTN 102 to CS 106 in the contact center for automaticcall distribution (ACD) or agent level routing (ALR). CTI/IVR 107 mayanswer the call at switch 106 to determine the purpose of the call andto initiate routing of the call to an available agent operating from oneof workstations 109 a through 109 z. Before routing the call to a liveagent, the customer may be presented instructions 122 for selection asparameters for monitoring and recording the call. The instructions mayinclude dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) options for initiating and forstopping recording of the call, or voice recognition-enabled interactionwith the customer. For example, star 4 (*4) may be used to startrecording and star 6 (*6) may be used to stop recording. DTMF keys maybe used in real time to record selected portions of a conversation or anentire voice interaction. It should be noted that customer's always havean option for recording conversations at their own premises, using theirown equipment; but in embodiments of the present invention customercontrol interacts with call-center equipment and software, and the callsare stored at the center.

In the circumstance that a call is recorded by the enterprise as amatter of policy, even though the customer has not requested that a callbe recorded, the commands may simply identify the recording and portionsthereof that are pertinent, so the same information is available thatwould be available if no recording is made in the absence of customerinput.

In one embodiment the IVR options include voice-recognized commands thata customer may speak during any part of the telephone call like “startrecording” and “stop recording”. In this case a call monitor with voicerecognition software may monitor the call and initiate recording oridentifying portions of a recording if the customer vocalizes theintent. A voice application may be provided that takes a customerthrough the entire process of registering to control how voice callswill be treated in the sense of pre-configured preferences, for examplerecording calls and saving them for access through a Web site for 30days.

In one embodiment a call recorded by monitor/recorder 108 is transferredvia LAN 103 to RMS 120 running RMS SW 119. The transfer may occur innear real time as the call is being recorded. RMS 120 stores therecording along with identification of the customer, time of call,perhaps purpose of the call, and perhaps other related information inrepository 121. With the aid of RMS SW 119, RMS 120 may then publish therecording along with other information deemed appropriate to WS 117. Acustomer operating at customer station 110 a may then access WS 117using a browser (BR) installed on an Internet-capable appliance such asthe illustrated computer. The customer may have a personalized Web pagethat provides download access to saved recordings taken from callsestablished between the customer and the center and perhaps otherdocumented business engaged in by the customer with the contact centersuch as chat transcripts, email dialogs, active invoices, current orderstatus, active purchase orders, and the like. In the circumstance ofbackground recording of calls, the information sent to the web site maybe the data about the call. In some embodiments the customer may beallowed to download voice recording, and in some other embodiments thecustomer may be limited to identities and data about recordings.

It shall be understood that the embodiments in this specificationrelating to voice communication as interactivity between an agent of anenterprise and another person who is not an agent of the enterprise, areindeed exemplary, and the systems and methods of the invention are notlimited to voice communication as interactions. Interactions may also bechat sessions, text messaging and the like, rather than voice, and mayin some circumstances involve both text and voice communication in asame interaction. In the case of voice interaction the recordingapparatus will record the verbal exchange, which may also be convertedto text. In the case of text communication the recording apparatusrecords the text activity of both participants in the interaction.

In one embodiment a customer may be provided with a version of a Webpage that is adapted for cellular telephones such as by wirelessapplication protocol WAP or more recent protocols. In this case acustomer may be enabled to stop and to start recording, or marking anongoing recording on a current call by sending a short message service(SMS) message that may be a pre-configured template with the command of“start recording” or “stop recording”. In another embodiment a tokenmight be used to signal the system to start recording or marking and adifferent token could be used to signal the system to stop recording ormarking. In another embodiment parameters for monitoring and recordingcalls between the customer and the contact center can be established inrich presence information held and managed at the customer's accessingdevice. In this case a thin SW client may be provided to the customerdevice that enables the pre-configuration and reporting of the presenceinformation and configured call recording and post-recording managementoptions.

In one embodiment the system utilizes message routing system 123 togenerate an automated outbound email or an multimedia messaging service(MMS) message to the customer, the message including one or morerecordings formatted in MP3, WAV, MPEG, MOV, AVI, or other compressionformats for audio and video. Video may be associated with an audiorecording of a voice call in an embodiment where the voice conversationincludes video streaming such as in a video phone conversation.

In one embodiment of the present invention all calls between customersand the center are recorded by default and retained for a period of timeas part of the historical record of activity at the call center, but arenot necessarily shared with the customers. In this case real timecommands for initiating recording and stopping recording ofconversations enable “capture” of all or portions of conversations thatwere already recorded.

In one embodiment a customer on a call and in a chat session or an IMsession with a contact center simultaneously may control recordingaspects of the call in progress from the chat or IM interface. In thisexample start and stop recording buttons and current state information(recording or not recording) of the call in progress may appear in theinterface for the customer to use.

FIG. 2 is a logical overview of system architecture 200 for recordingcalls and publishing recordings according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. System architecture 200 includes a call center switch206 that may be analogous to CS 106 described in FIG. 1. Switch 206shows an active call queue 209 and an active voice session 210 inprogress and being monitored.

A customer computer 201 is illustrated having Web access to a Web server(WS) 205. WS 205 serves a configuration UT (CFG UI) 211 a illustrated instate of display on the GUI of computer 201. Computer 201 may beanalogous to a computing device illustrated in customer station 110 a or110 b and WS 205 may be analogous to WS 117 of FIG. 1. UI 211 a may beanalogous to UI 118 of FIG. 1. A customer telephone 203 has connectionto switch 206 and the customer is engaged currently in session 210 withan agent represented herein by an agent telephone 204 connected toswitch 206. The customer's equipment may alternatively be any sort ofcomputerized alliance capable of supporting the needed protocols andinteraction.

A recording management server (RMS) 208 is illustrated in this exampleand may be analogous to RMS 120 described in FIG. 1. An agent computer202 has a LAN connection to RMS 208. RMS 208 has a LAN connection to CTImonitor/recorder, which in turn is connected to switch 206 via a CTIlink. The agent computer may be analogous to any of the computersassociated with workstations 109 a through 109 z and agent telephone 204may be analogous to any of the telephones associated with thoseworkstations described in FIG. 1 above.

In one embodiment of the present invention the customer that isoperating from computing device 201 logs into WS 205 and registers forcall-control including configuring call management preferences using CFGUI 211 a. WS 205 mirrors the configuration parameters of the customer toRMS 208 where it is stored for later access. The agent operating fromcomputing device 202 accepts the customer call using telephone 204 andsession 210 is established. Just before the agent takes the call duringthe ringing event at telephone 204 the configuration parameters CFG 211b of the customer are uploaded to the agent's computing device 202 byRMS 208. The interface including the configured parameters is pushed tothe agent's computing device 202 by RMS 208. The correct configurationparameters are accessed from storage by RMS 208 based on callnotification of the parties of session 210 before it is established butafter final routing has been determined. In this way the agent mayinitiate recording of voice session 210 according to configuredparameters.

The customer may have realtime control over recording or not recordingvoice session 210, or saving information about an ongoing recording atany time during the session by vocalizing the intent or using DTMFcommands from telephone 203. The agent may initially establish defaultsettings for monitoring and recording session 210 in compliance with theconfiguration interface 211 b of the customer with the customer able tooverride those settings with realtime commands input into the telephone.The commands are interpreted and executed directly by CTImonitor/recorder 207.

The customer may also have realtime control over recording or notrecording session 210 via sending of one or more messages from computingdevice 201 connected to WS 205. A command to start recording in amessage from the customer may be routed from WS 205 to CTImonitor/recorder 207 through RMS server 208. The agent in session 210may receive notification of the status from RMS 208 as it isimplemented. In one embodiment other aspects of recording managementlike posting recordings online can be handled manually by the agent insession according to parameters in CFG 211 b.

To record session 210, or to mark and identify an ongoing recording theagent inputs the command into the interface providing thecustomer-configured parameters in CFG (211 b) at computing device 202.The command is uploaded to RMS 208 and routed to CTI monitor/recorder207, which initiates the command at switch 206. The recorded session 210is transferred to RMS 208 where it is stored. RMS 208 may publish orpost the recording or information about a recording, or both to a Website hosted on WS 205 where the customer may download it, listen to itonline, or access data about the recording. In one embodiment thecustomer may manage all of the posted recordings such as by deletingthem when no longer needed and so on. In one embodiment recordings maybe uploaded automatically to any social network page the customer maysubscribe to like Facebook™ or Myspace™. The invention may be practicedusing an analog telephone interface or a digital telephone interface orapplication using VoIP and session initiation protocol (SIP) to set upthe live sessions. In some embodiments the enterprise may save copies ofrecorded interactions for their own use, even though a customer may haverequested the recording be deleted. In some embodiments authorization ofboth the customer and the enterprise may be necessary to delete arecording altogether.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 300 for practicing anIVR-based customer-controlled call recording process. This processinclusive of steps 300 focuses on an embodiment where an IVR providesthe functionality of the invention to the customer. A voice call isanswered by IVR at step 301. The IVR system plays a customer greeting atstep 302. At step 302 the IVR unit may also identify the customer,determine the reason for the call, and request routing for the customer.

The IVR unit may inform the customer that the call may be monitored forquality assurance purposes at step 303. The IVR unit lists recordingoptions for the customer before routing the call to a live agent or to aqueue. The options may be presented in one or more prompts enabling thecustomer to select recording options at step 305. There may be a few orseveral different options selected by a customer for recording thesession and for configuring recording management preferences. In thisexample the IVR unit places the customer in a queue at step 306 to bedistributed to an available agent working the queue.

An agent takes the call at step 307. This step may be signaled by aringing event at the agent's telephone, or may just be opened with orwithout alert to the agent. The customer may invoke a recording optionpresented as a command at step 304 to record or to stop recording, or tomark an ongoing recording. The customer in some embodiments may controlhow much of the session if not all of the session will be recorded orbookmarked. The call is disposed of at step 309. The RMS prepares therecording for publishing or posting to a Web site personalized to thecustomer at step 310. Preparation may include compressing the audio andvideo if recorded. The RMS may provide a title for the recording and mayprovide a short text summary of the content or subject matter of therecording. The recording may be listed with other recordings accordingto some priority scheme set up by the customer. It is noted herein thatthe present invention may be practiced to monitor and record incomingcalls into the contact center and outbound calls placed to customersfrom the contact center without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

In one embodiment the agent who interacted with the customer preparesthe recording for posting according to customer preferences madeavailable to the agent before the agent accepted the call. In oneembodiment all of the post-recording management is automatic includingposting recordings for download or sending recordings to customers. Inone embodiment a customer may order a media version of one or morerecorded conversations recorded at the contact center, such as CD, DVD,tape, flash, or other.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary screen view of a customer configuration template400 for configuring recording options. Customer configuration template400 may be presented to customers accessing a Web site to register forcall-control capabilities as part of a configuration UI like CFG UI 118of FIG. 1. A customer may provide required identification such asaddress, telephone contact information, username and password for loginpurposes, and credit card information if required before being servedcustomer template 400 for configuring call recording and managementoptions 401.

Options 401 may include an option for recording all voice interactionsbetween the customer and the center. If the customer selects the firstoption listed then all voice interactions are recorded by default. Anext option enables initiation and termination of recording of a voiceinteraction in real time. Associated with this option are selections forusing touch-tone commands to start and stop recording and a selectionfor using voice commands for starting and stopping recording. In oneembodiment the system provides those touch-tone and voice commands. Inanother embodiment the customer may configure the touch-tone and voicecommands that will be used.

A next option if selected enables the customer to record voiceinteraction based on identity. Associated with this option areselections for recording based on agent identity and a selection forrecording based on department identity. If recording by agent identityis selected, a text window may appear for inputting one or moreidentities of agents working at the contact center. A list of agentnames and/or numbers may be provided for the customer to check whichagents the customer would like recorded if they handle a voice call forthe customer. The identities entered may be names of agents or IDnumbers of agents. If recording by department ID is selected then awindow may appear for the customer to enter the departmentidentification (name or number). A list of departments may be providedfor the customer to select from.

If recording by agent identity any selected agent that takes a call fromthe customer will be recorded during that voice interaction. Thecustomer may still exercise realtime control over recording overridingthe pre-configured parameters. If recording by department ID all callsfrom the customer handled by a selected department are recordedregardless of agent identity. However, in one embodiment the customermay set recording options to record all calls between the customer and aspecific department of the contact center with an exception of one ormore identified agents working in that department. The reverse scenariois also possible, that is not to record conversations between thecustomer and a specific departing with the exception of one or morespecific agents working within the department.

A next option for recording enables the customer to record interactionsaccording to the subject of the call. A text entry field may be providedfor the customer to type in one or more subjects that are subject torecording. For example, a subject might be a particular type product orservice. A subject might be customer service or technical support. Everytime a call from the customer is handled and the subject of the callrelates significantly to a subject matter selected or entered into thesystem by the customer, the call is recorded.

Some of options 401 are relative to post-recording management services.A next option in this category is the option for organizing andsummarizing all recordings. This option enables the customer toconfigure how the system will list recordings, for example, on apersonalized Web page. Associated with this option are selections fororganizing the recordings by date and one for categorizing recordings byproduct or service. A summary of a recording may include the subject ofthe call, and a short paragraph describing the content of the call. Inone embodiment a customer may specify how long recordings should bekept. In one embodiment this can be managed by the customer by selectinga recording and selecting from a list of time periods for keeping therecording. A customer may be enabled to remove recordings from thepresentation page and may in some cases delete them from the server ifauthorized.

Another option 401 directs the system to email recordings directly to acustomers email address. In this case a recording may be emailed to thecustomer shortly after the recording was made in the contact center. Anautomated email may be generated and sent to the customer each time arecording is made.

Another option 401 allows the system to email download links for therecordings. In one embodiment a customer may order backup copies ofrecordings to be made and kept for safekeeping. Another option directsthe system not to retain the recordings. In this case recordings may besent to the customer but not kept at the contact center. One option 401allows the customer to tag recordings saved for the customer. A relatedoption enables the customer to search through recordings by applied tagword used as a search term. There may be other options presented incustomer template 400 than are illustrated herein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. Likewise, there may befewer options available without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

In one embodiment a customer may have options for carbon copy (CC) andblind carbon copy (BCC) mailing of recordings to designated recipientswhose addresses are automatically included in the list of recipients whowill receive the recording. In another embodiment recordings may beposted to a customer's personalized Web page for access and to other Websites where the customer has a password protected personal page. Thereare many possibilities.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 500 for practicing aWeb-based customer-controlled call recording process. At step 501 anagent working for the contact center takes an incoming call from acustomer. A call monitor/recorder analogous to call monitor/recorder 108of FIG. 1 monitors the call at step 502 and records the call if ordered,or may be making an ongoing recording. The call monitor/recorder sendsthe recorded version in real time as it is being recorded to a recordingmanagement server (RMS) analogous to RMS 120 of FIG. 1. The RMS receivesthe call recording and stores the recording internally or in a connectedrepository on behalf of the customer at strep 503 and in addition,simultaneously creates a Web event of the call in progress associatedwith the recording. The RMS publishes the Web event at step 504 to thepersonal page of the customer that initiated the call. In this stepcustomer identification is associated to the call in progress and thelive Web event may identify the customer and the agent as well as thecurrent duration, recording state, subject of the call and time and dateof the call.

The live Web event representing the call in progress may be accessed bythe customer and it may be manipulated to stop recording. In oneembodiment if the call is monitored but not being recorded, a Web eventmay still be created representing the live, in-progress call.

The customer on the call may, in one embodiment, decide whether toaccess the live call at step 505. The live call is represented on thecustomer's Web site and in order to start or stop recording of theevent, the customer logs into the site and can highlight the call inprogress event displayed to control recording and post-recordingmanagement of the recording resulting from the call.

If at step 505 the customer decides not to access the represented callin progress, then the process may loop back until the decision is madeto access the event. After the duration of the event representation ofthe event may be terminated at the Web site but any recording taken fromthe call represented is presented for listen or download by thecustomer.

If at step 505 the customer decides to access the call in progress (CIP)at step 506 the customer may log into the Web site hosting therepresentation of the live event. It is noted herein that there may besome slight delay before the representation of the live event becomesaccessible on the Web site. Once at the Web site the customer can seethe represented event in progress including customer and agentidentification, recording state, department ID, and perhaps additionalinformation associated with the event. Controls for starting andstopping recording may be present as radio buttons or icons associatedwith the event. The initial state of recording of the event depends onthe default setting configured by the customer in the customerconfiguration template previously described before.

A customer may double-click an icon representing the CIP at step 507 toopen up the possible options for realtime control over aspects of theevent. Primary among these options is the ability to stop recording thecall and the ability to start recording the call. At step 508 thecustomer may select a call option and implement that option. Step 508may be repeated for each option selected. For example, a customer mayselect and implement the option record call for a CIP that is beingmonitored and represented as a Web event but that is not currently beingrecorded.

A customer may also select and implement an option that stops recordinga CIP that is currently being monitored, represented on the Web-site inreal time and that is currently being recorded. Other options that mayoverride pre-configured call-control and post-recording managementoptions may be provided for selection relative to the CIP representationon the Web site. Call-control options provided with the representationof the event on the Web site may be selected and implemented as long asthe state of the represented event is live meaning that the call is inprogress between the accessing customer and the agent. At step 509 theprocess ends when the CIP representation is terminated because the callis no longer connected.

FIG. 6 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 600 for publishingrecorded calls according to an embodiment of the present invention. Atstep 601 the contact center receives an incoming call. In one embodimentthe call received may be the result of an outbound contact made to acustomer that is treated as an inbound call if answered by the customer.The system (IVR) answers the call and identifies the caller at step6002. In this step the system may also greet the customer and determinethe reason for the call if not already known to the system.

At step 603 routing is requested and the call is routed to a live agent.The CTI monitor/recorder monitors and records the call at step 604 whenthe agent picks up the call by default in this example. The recording ofthe call and additional identification and other data deemed relevant issent to the recording management server (RMS) at step 605. This processoccurs in near real time and the call in progress may or may not besimultaneously represented on a Web site accessible to the customer ofthe call.

At step 606 the RMS stores the recording and relevant information in aformat for presentation to the customer. The customer may opt to listento the recording online or to download and save the recording to apersonal appliance for storage. At step 608 the customer can be notifiedby email, instant message, SMS or MMS that the recording has posted fordownload or listening. At step 609 the process ends for that customer.The customer may also be notified that the reference record has posted,but actual playback or download may not be made available to thecustomer.

The present invention may be practiced over the Internet network andconnected telephony networks wired or wireless or a combination thereofwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thepresent invention may be practiced with a PBX system, a COST system orwith VoIP systems or a combination thereof without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that thecustomer-controlled recording system of the invention may be providedusing some or all of the mentioned features and components withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It willalso be apparent to the skilled artisan that the embodiments describedabove are specific examples of a single broader invention which may havegreater scope than any of the singular descriptions taught. There may bemany alterations made in the descriptions without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

1. A recording system, comprising: an interface hosted by an enterpriseenabled to monitor interaction between an agent of the enterprise and acustomer placing a call to the enterprise; a recording apparatus enabledto record the interaction and to store the recording in a datarepository; and software stored in and executing from a non-transitorymachine-readable medium, the software providing functions forcontrolling the recording apparatus; wherein the software responds toinputs from the customer to control the recording apparatus causing therecording system to at least record the interaction, and identify all ora portion of the interaction being recorded, wherein the identifiedportion of the recorded interaction is copied and saved as a separatefile, marked as to a date and time of the interaction and the recordingis made available to the enterprise and the customer.
 2. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the customer has access to command input to cause therecording system to record all or a portion of the interaction under acircumstance that the interaction is not being recorded.
 3. The systemof claim 2 wherein the recorded interaction is marked as to the date andtime of the interaction.
 4. The system of claim 3 wherein the recordedinteraction is further marked as to one or both participants in theinteraction.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the identified portion ofthe recorded interaction is further marked as to one or bothparticipants in the interaction.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein theseparate file is marked as to one or both participants in theinteraction.
 7. The system of claim 2 wherein the customer has access tocommand input to retrieve and play the recorded interaction.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the customer has access to command input toretrieve identity and the date and time of the portion of the recordingidentified.
 9. A method for recording control, comprising the steps of:(a) monitoring interaction between an agent of an enterprise and acustomer initiating the interaction; (b) providing, to the customerengaged in the interaction, access to recording control functions via aninterface hosted by the enterprise; (c) executing recording of all or apart of the interaction by the customer; (d) identifying, via thecustomer interacting with the control functions, all or a portion of theinteraction being recorded which is copied and saved as a separate file,marked as to a date and time of the interaction, wherein the separatefile is made available to the enterprise and the customer.
 10. Themethod of claim 9 including a step for marking the recorded interactionas to the date and time.
 11. The method of claim 10 including a step formarking the recorded interaction as to one or both participants in theinteraction.
 12. The method of claim 9 including a step for furthermarking the identified portion of the recorded interaction as to one orboth participants in the interaction.
 13. The method of claim 9including a step for marking the separate file as to one or bothparticipants in the interaction.
 14. The method of claim 9 including astep for the customer to retrieve a copy of the file.
 15. The method ofclaim 9 including a step for the customer to retrieve identity and thedate and time of the portion of the recording identified.